Starting the next night, Hudson and Bronx stayed behind at the castle with Brooklyn while the clan patrolled. Brooklyn started his punishment. He went to the nursery to see if there was anything he could do to help with Alex.

"Can I do anything to help, Owen?" Brook asked. "Goliath has grounded me and wants me to help take care of Alex. I have to be a babysitter while Lex is out there more."

"Hm, well, I am about to give Alexander his dinner. You think you can do that?" Owen said.

"Well, I need to get childcare experience since I'm going to be a father soon." Brooklyn declared. "I just haven't taken care of babies before."

"Now's a good time to try." Owen declared.

Brooklyn followed Owen carrying a hungry Alex to the kitchen where he was placed into a highchair. Alex had outgrown his need for milk in a bottle. He was on solid foods now.

"Can I just watch how you do it?" Brook asked.

"I can show you how, but you need to do it yourself too." Owen replied.

To Brooklyn, Alex seemed like such an easygoing kid. How could the little guy be trouble? He had thought that once before Xanatos had turned around and welcomed them into his home. It all had to do with the clan saving his son.

Brooklyn wished Lex was here to help show him how to do things. He was more of Alex's favorite gargoyle.

Owen couldn't help but look at the red gargoyle's rounding belly. He smiled.

Brooklyn was waiting for what was next and he saw the look on Owen's face. "What?" he asked.

Owen snapped out of it. "Oh, sorry. I'm going to go get Alex's food ready and you can try feeding it to him." The man left to go get the food ready.

"Unce Owen gone?" Alex said.

"Your uncle went to go get your dinner." Brooklyn replied gently. He kept on talking to the kid as much as he could to keep him calm.

"Where Unce Lex?" Alex asked.

"Lex is out on duty patrolling tonight. He'll be back soon." Brook stated.

Owen soon came out with a plateful of baby food on a plate and a sippy cup. "Here you go, Brooklyn. He's all yours." The man said. He put the plate on the tray in front of the toddler.

"Okay, ready to eat, Alex?" Brook asked.

"Yes!" Alex replied happily.

Brooklyn thought it was cute. How bad could feeding a toddler be? He proceeded to pull up a chair so he could be level with the child, and he picked up the spoon and got food on it and tried to get the boy to eat his food.

Alex ate some of his dinner the right way, but there were times when he refused and even got food in Brooklyn's face and on his body. He was just playing.

Brooklyn knew he would need a sense of humor in this. It was kind of funny if not just gross. He would have to clean himself up.

After Alex's dinner and a quick cleanup, Alex was taken back to his room. Owen supervised this time, but he wouldn't always be there to watch. He wanted to see how Brooklyn handled himself before he would leave him alone with the boy.

Alex wanted to play with a toy ball by rolling it around. Brooklyn sat down and was happy to let him roll it back to him. He rolled it back. It went on for a while before around 9 when the kid started getting sleepy.

Owen let Brooklyn hold him as he picked the boy up and held him to his chest as Alex fell asleep. He liked to be held against Lex's chest usually. But tonight, he had his Uncle Brooklyn, and would from here on out for a while.

Brooklyn was glad that the kid was able to put up with him even though he had no idea what he was doing this first night. He would gradually get it as the month wore on. He sat in the rocking chair and rocked the boy gently. He began to hum a tune. He also felt that he wanted to give his own child a tune too. It seemed to be soothing to Alex for sure. He kept Alex's weight away from his belly though.

When the clan returned from their duty, Lex came to the nursery to see how his brother was doing with Alex. He found them asleep in the rocking chair. Owen had let them sleep. Lex smiled that Alex seemed to be comfortable with his brother. He would still hang out with Alex though as much as he could, but with his red brother pregnant, he was going to be active on patrol a lot more.

Lex hated to wake his brother, but he was going to take over. He gently took the sleeping Alex out of Brooklyn's arms and put him in his crib. The toddler didn't even flinch. "Good night, little guy." Lex smiled.

The olive male went back over to his brother in the rocker. He looked up at him sleeping peacefully, then a thought hit him. He could see Brooklyn's round belly moving at seeing the baby inside him. Lex put a hand to his brother's belly to feel it. He instantly felt a little kick from inside Brook's belly.

Lex smiled at feeling his nephew kick his hand. He still sometimes couldn't believe that his red brother was pregnant. Aside from his rounding belly, there were no other signs of anything changing on his body. It was just he wondered if he would get bigger breasts or something to feed the baby?

"I promise I'll be the best uncle I can be to you, little guy. I'll teach you a lot of cool things like I plan to teach Alex too." Lex said proudly.

Then, Lex felt another powerful kick beneath his hand. "Whoa, you're going to be a powerful little guy."

Lex's raised voice awoke Brooklyn this time. "Hm?" He mumbled. He felt a touch on his stomach, and he looked down. "Lex? What are you doing?" he asked.

Lexington instantly took his hand back. "Sorry, I was just feeling your son move in there. He's got some good kicking power."

Brooklyn smiled. "Yeah, he does at that." He put a hand to his belly as he could feel him shifting inside him. Then he remembered something. "Where's Alex?"

"It's okay. I put him in his crib. I saw you two sleeping in the chair here." Lex reassured him.

Brook let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Thanks."

"I'll help ya babysit as much as I can, bro." Lex stated.

"Thanks. I know I need the experience before my own arrives." Brooklyn said. "I think I need a snack before he really kicks me much harder." He could also feel his stomach growling for food.

"Yeah, me too." Lex added. Alex was soundly asleep, and the two gargoyle brothers headed to the kitchen. "Have you figured out his name yet?"

"No, not yet."

They arrived at the kitchen and Brooklyn went to the fridge to drag out some turkey, ham, pickles, ice cream, bananas, and peaches. Lex was mystified that he got out so much to share between them.

Lex didn't feel like eating pickles, but he saw his bro opening the jar and instantly eating one. They both filled their plates with the food. Brooklyn even dipped a pickle into his ice cream, which was cookie dough flavored. Lex gave a disgusted look.

"How does that taste?" Lex asked.

"Good to me. Hmm. This is so good." Brooklyn replied.

"Even I don't like to mix my food that much."

"Sorry. It's the baby talking. He likes this sort of thing." Brook said.

"I read that pregnant mothers can get weird cravings sometimes." Lex stated.

"Sure can. I know I do." Brook took another bite. He sighed as it tasted so good on his tongue.

Most of the clan would have been disgusted with what Brooklyn was eating right now, or how he was eating. Why did pregnant people get such weird cravings? There must have been some nutritional value in it. Hard to say.

They continued to eat their meal in silence, with Lex still grimacing watching his pregnant brother eat in weird mixtures.

…..

The day of the next exam was on. Brooklyn was on the verge of turning seven months pregnant.

He was staring at the screen while Sato rubbed the wand on his swollen gel-covered belly. Brooklyn raised his head to get a better look at his child.

Every body part was looked at and the gender was looked at again to make sure it was a boy. Sato saw a male. The parts were there. Sato also played the heartbeat. It was still a good gushing sound. It sounded a little different than last time, but it was probably more to do with the age of the fetus rather than anything else. Brooklyn hadn't been too stressed lately. Not since a month ago.

Brooklyn knew there was so much risk with Ray still wanting him for wanting his baby. Or the thought of torture after he gave birth to him. It worried him.

Sato saw a worried look on Brooklyn's face. "You must relax, Brooklyn. Your emotions can affect your son."

"Sorry. I'm still just worried about Ray wanting my son. Or what he might want me for after the pregnancy is over." Brook explained.

"You mustn't think about that. You are home and safe." Sato tried to keep him calm. He finished up the exam. "How have you been feeling lately?" he asked.

"Pretty good for the most part. But I do have probably more erections than usual too." Brooklyn mentioned. He hadn't mentioned it to anyone else.

"Oh, that's normal. Sometimes even pregnant mothers at this stage just want sex to help them have fun or to get rid of tension. Just do your best to take care of it if it feels intense, but I can give you some progesterone to help calm the hormones too." Sato explained.

"I think the hormones would be a good idea. Sometimes they drive me nuts."

"Okay. I will then." Sato replied.

The exam was soon finished, and Brooklyn was allowed to go about his night. Some progesterone would be brought over tomorrow night to help to start balancing the male hormones. Though Brooklyn also wondered if he would still have them when his belly got so big that he wouldn't be able to reach that part of himself properly.

Sato came by the next night and gave Brooklyn some progesterone pills. It was ideally a good idea too, since being a male, he didn't always produce his own hormones like that, though his estrogen levels had come up more due to the pregnancy. But his male hormones were still his trait, of course. The progesterone would just help balance them a little more due to the baby. Brooklyn didn't want to have such constant sexual arousals when he didn't even have a mate to share them with. But he would still let himself have them here and there.

The doctor also took a blood sample to see what his current hormones levels were. They were analyzed and the pregnancy hormone was definitely there in a good dose. Other things were looked at in the sample too, and everything else was doing fine.

…..

Ray wasn't giving up on getting Brooklyn back, now that he knew he was back in New York again. He had talked to Sevarius and he knew of a good way to get the red male back. He knew of one other gargoyle who might be able to get him back more easily.

When the resulting gargoyle came at Anton's request, he was surprised at what he was. He was a genetic clone! He was a big, black gargoyle with armor and red eyes, though he was a male. This was Thailog.

"Wow. I've never seen such a gargoyle before." Ray was astounded.

"This is Thailog, clone of the lead gargoyle, Goliath." Anton introduced him.

"So, what am I here for, Sevarius? To take out Goliath again?" Thailog demanded.

"No. Not unless you have to, but my friend here is going to explain it to you." Anton replied. Thailog turned his attention to Ray.

"Hi, I'm Ray. I will be grateful for your help if you could get me the red gargoyle of the clan." Ray stated.

"And why should I get him for you?"

"Because he has something I need and want. He carries the result inside his belly, so when you catch him, be extra careful with him." Ray explained.

"What is it?" Thailog asked.

"Let's just say that it's not exactly a clone, but it is a genetically engineered gargoyle." Ray replied.

"Hmm. Sounds intriguing." Thailog smirked.

"Will you do it?" Ray asked.

"Not without a payoff."

"I'll pay you $30,000 if you bring the red male to me." Ray declared.

"So, you want Brooklyn, huh?"

"Yes. What he carries can help further genetic research for gargoyle kind." Ray stated.

Thailog thought it through. "Alright. You have a deal." The black clone grinned smugly. He had to come up with a diversion for the clan and to get in to get Brooklyn away from his home or any clan mates he was with, even the gar dog.

Ray would get Brooklyn back before the baby was ready to be born and he planned to move the pregnant gargoyle to a private facility where the other gargoyles wouldn't think to look for him. They already knew about Gen-U-Tech.

"Wait. What about California? I have a place out there to take him." Sevarius said.

"Hm, sounds like a good idea, now that Brooklyn knows his way home." Ray replied.

They would figure out what to do with him once they had him in their clutches again.

…

Brooklyn felt so restless here in the castle. He really wanted to go gliding over the city but chances of getting caught were much too high right now.

He would take time out every night to read to his baby in his room or the library. He would rub his belly and talk to his son. He was reading about a nursery in his Expecting book right now.

Baby gargoyles didn't usually have nurseries. They had rookeries. It was the place for young gargoyles. But times had changed. Brooklyn wanted his son with him in his room. He wanted him safe.

David and Fox ended up giving Brooklyn a playpen where he could put his son safely.

"Because he's going to have wings, he won't be able to glide anytime soon, right? That he'll stay in there?" Fox asked.

"We don't learn to glide until we're at least ten, making us equivalent of a five-year-old." Brook replied.

"Well, that's comparable to when human kids start going to real school for the first time, not counting preschool." Fox said.

"Human kids sure go through a lot of school, don't they?"

"Yes, they do." David stated. "Alex has yet to go through it. Then we'll really be busy with him. All the homework and such. We'll make sure to tell him not to tell his friends about you guys."

"Unless by some miracle that we'll be accepted by the city."

"I doubt that's in the cards anytime too soon, Brooklyn." David said.

Brooklyn still worried for the safety of his son. That was normal for any parent. But for the clan, his son would have to be watched carefully after his birth. Human poachers would love to take advantage of taking Brooklyn's baby and using him against Brook and the clan. He really was looking forward to holding his son in his arms.

He wondered how much longer he had to remain pregnant. His belly still wasn't that big. He was bored and thought about going down to the paradise beneath the castle and go swimming. He had also been practicing Lamaze breathing and such too lately.

Brooklyn went down to the paradise area, and he took his loincloth off and he went swimming to get weight off his feet. It felt good at this point.

Spring was back and it was getting warm outside again. The baby was due in May or June. It was now the month of March. Sato had confirmed that his son wasn't ready to be born yet and he was now seven months along.

Brooklyn really hoped there wouldn't be any more bad guys coming after him for the sake of his unborn child the rest of the pregnancy. His punishment was now over, but he didn't have a problem watching Alex. He still wanted the experience with a kid.

What the red gargoyle wouldn't give though to have a loving mate at his side to love him and his son. His child would need a mother. A female to help give direction, besides Angela, Fox, or Elisa.

…..

In Nebraska, from the time that Elaine had gone to be with her family after she had been raped and went home to heal from her bad experience, she realized that she missed Brooklyn so much. He had saved her life a few times and he had been wonderful company.

It had been five long months of recuperating at home and was ready to go back to St. Louis. She had been found to be pregnant and there was no way she was going to keep that baby. She never told her family about it and went and had an abortion. The doctor had tried to convince her to not do it, but she had told him that she was not going to carry an evil man's baby to term. The doctor reluctantly did the abortion.

Elaine doubted that Brooklyn was back at her house St. Louis. He had moved on by now, she was sure. She knew that he had wanted to get home to his family which was in New York.

Elaine's parents and siblings all noticed a change in her that wasn't in her before. She had been depressed and withdrawn for a long time, but now she was coming out of her shell again, trying to regain a new kind of normalcy.

She was ready to return to St. Louis, but just long enough to move out of her house. She was going to New York. Her family didn't want her going back there but she was an adult who could make her own decisions. She was tired of being treated like an invalid. Now Elaine needed to get away from her parents.

She was going to find a way to track down Brooklyn when she got there. She remembered of him telling her of his human friends, Elisa Maza and Matt Bluestone, and this David Xanatos.

Elaine had her own money reserves from her jobs as a bank teller and she would book her own flight to New York.

When she arrived in St. Louis and went to her current home, she packed as much stuff as she could and told her landlord she was moving out. Most of the stuff wasn't hers anyway. It had been a furnished home for her. Then Elaine called the nearest airport and asked when the next flight to New York was.

It would be tomorrow evening at 7 pm. It was currently a Tuesday. Elaine agreed she would be on that flight.

The next evening, she got on the plane bound for New York.

She was in New York by midnight. She had no idea where to go, but she would find a hotel for the night. She called a taxi after she picked up her luggage. He drove her to a hotel where she would spend the night.

The next day, she began looking for a job and an apartment. She also found the address of an Elisa Maza that Brooklyn had told her about. She lived in Manhattan. Elaine was currently in the Bronx. She wrote down Elisa's address and would track her down as soon as she was settled. She also called her family to let them know she had arrived safely in New York.

"Honey, I'm begging you to come home." Her mom declared.

"No, Mom. I've been treated like I'm a baby for far too long ever since what happened and I'm sick of it! I want to move on with my life. I have a friend here in this city and I'm going to find him." Elaine explained.

"We don't even know this friend. And if it's a man, how can you know you can trust him?" Her mom demanded.

"I know I can trust him. He's not an ordinary guy. He's special." Elaine replied.

"How long did you know him, Elaine?"

"A couple of months."

"That's not long enough to know you can trust a guy completely." The mom exclaimed.

"I know that, but I know him well enough. I'm going to track him down and see him again." Elaine put her foot down. She was not a little girl seeking permission. Her mom still was concerned about her, she got that, but it was time to put the past in the past in order to live again.

Elaine went and found an apartment and a job the same day. She had made sure to rent a furnished apartment. She didn't have much with her and didn't want to buy a lot of big furniture right now in a strange new city. She was working for another bank again that wasn't too far from her home, right down the street actually. She wanted a few more days to settle in before she would begin her search.

Yes, Elaine is coming back into the story.